Roundhouse Kick into a New Era

Since its 2018 debut, Cobra Kai has garnered a tremendous amount of critical acclaim. Set 34 years after the events of the 1984 classic, The Karate Kid, the blockbuster show has served as a follow-up to the original Karate Kid movies. But it is worth noting that Mary Mouser, who has played Samantha LaRusso, says when she first auditioned for the role, she had no idea what, or who, she was getting into. “I actually had never seen the Karate Kid films before, which I know is a little crazy,” she explains. “But my friend, who is a huge Karate Kid fan, was immediately like, ‘Oh, my God, you’re auditioning to be the daughter of the Karate Kid, this is so exciting.’ I tried not to think about how big of a deal it was, and luckily, I guess it worked because I ended up booking the role, and at that point, I was like, ‘Alright, now we can freak out.’”

With her role as the daughter of the Karate Kid himself, Daniel LaRusso, intense martial-arts training has been a crucial part of preparation for filming. A typical two-hour session includes stretching, boxing, and rehearsing choreography for fight scenes, like roundhouse kicks, with their characters’ stunt doubles. Even when not filming the show, Mouser and her castmates are expected to keep up with their fitness regimens – an activity that she says has grown on her in recent years. “I literally got a note to get out of P.E. class [throughout my school career],” she shares. “But now, it’s like my sport. I get all my energy out, and I get pumped up to go and train, and it makes me feel in tune with my body.”

It’s no wonder that health and wellness activities have been such a vital part of her everyday life. As a Type 1 diabetic, Mouser monitors her diet and exercise, as well as the temperature of a room, since they can significantly affect her blood-sugar levels. Her condition also puts her at greater risk for COVID-19, and as a result, required her to quarantine for the majority of 2020. “My sister and I initially thought that it was short-term and that we could watch movies all the time and eat whatever we wanted,” she recalls. “But once I realized that this was a long-term scenario, I had to be like, ‘Okay, let’s figure out how to actually handle this.’ Luckily, I have a great team with me in terms of my doctors, and it was kind of like a fun challenge because it really made me look at what had a direct correlation to my blood sugar.”

In addition, Mouser has worked with JDRF, a non-profit that funds research on Type 1 diabetes: publicly sharing her personal experiences with the condition, taking part in the annual JDRF One Walk to help raise funds for the organization, and even attending a congressional conference to talk to government officials about the research funding. While the pandemic has limited her philanthropic efforts, she hopes to keep raising awareness about the condition through digital events and platforms. “This is kind of something we need to figure out a solution to – to have a community event safely while everybody is at home,” she says. “It’s definitely something that makes things feel better, you know, feeling like I’m still a part of that community and getting to be an active part.”

Mouser adds that she has connected with the portrayal of her Cobra Kai character, Samantha, who stays true to herself in the face of adversity. “To her, karate is the good and the bad – it causes a lot of real problems, but it also solves them,” she tells me. “I have that same attitude [toward] my life. I like getting to crush people’s doubts about my life with diabetes, like, ‘Oh, I didn’t know you could be an actor and have diabetes,’ or ‘I didn’t know you could do stunts and have diabetes’ – and to be able to say that it doesn’t have to stop you from anything is really cool and important to me.”

Writer: Hannah Fitzpatrick

Highmark Studios Presents: A Social-Distancing Collaboration with Ron Contarsy and Mary Mouser

Stylist: Hannah Johnson

Editor: Eiko Watanabe

Special thanks to EPK Media (@myepk & @epkmedia - epkmedia.com)